Dial M for Murder
by Frederick Knott
Adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher
📍 The Westmoreland Players Theatre
🎬 Directed by: Marcia Peters
Stage Manager: Christopher Brown
The story offers a sordid tale of infidelity, revenge, blackmail, deception
and murder. Englishman Tony Wendice is married to beautiful wealthy
socialite Margot, and is winding down his career as a professional tennis
player. By chance he discovers that Margot has been having an affair with
Maxine Hadley, an American crime fiction writer, and plots to avenge
himself by murdering her and securing her enormous fortune. He ruthlessly
blackmails his friend Lesgate, a small time criminal, into murdering Margot,
yet there is no perfect murder.
📅 Audition Dates:
February 23-24, 2026 at 6:30pm
📍 Location:
16217 Richmond Rd. Callao, VA 22435
🎭 Audition Format:
Prepared monologue (see below)
Cold read with Stage Manager
No callbacks
Sides will be provided
👥 Roles Available:
Tony Wendice – charming, calculating, dangerous
Margot Wendice – elegant, resilient, emotionally strong
Max Hadley – romantic, conflicted, idealistic
Inspector Hubbard – intelligent, witty, observant
Lesgate / Swann – desperate, fearful, morally conflicted
🎭 AUDITION MONOLOGUES:
INSPECTOR HUBBARD
Wendice told Lesgate that he would leave your key under the stair carpet and to return it to the same place when he left. But as Lesgate was killed, Wendice naturally assumed your key would still be in one of Lesgate’s pockets. That was his mistake. Because Lesgate had done exactly what Miss Hadley suggested. He unlocked the front door, and then returned the key before he came in.
MARGOT
That’s what I couldn’t figure. But then I’m stupid. He didn’t say it was his alibi. He said it was the alibi. It didn’t hit me until I realized I could hear your voice. I’d tuned in just as I said I would. He had to kill me at that moment precisely because that was when you were on the talks program. An alibi of three million listeners.
MAXINE
Yes, flying to New York, writing you letters every day, until you told me to stop. I couldn’t stay here in London knowing you were trying to make a go of it with Tony. Do you know how I spent the past year? I got the cheapest apartment I could find, a sixth floor walk-up in Greenwich Village, and I typed. Rather I smoked and typed. Rather I smoked and drank a half bottle of whiskey a day and typed, but the whiskey was only at the end of the day, it was the reward for my work. If I wrote a thousand words, I could have a drink.
LESGATE
The five thousand pounds you paid for that letter you never go back. The blackmail. Pretty neat trick, you must admit, getting you to pay for your own murder. The thing is it’s all planned out to the minute. It’s got to take place precisely at ten after eight.
TONY
She was having an affair. The usual tells: she lost weight, there were phone calls that would end abruptly when I came into the room. Then we had a row. I wanted to go to Oxford for the weekend, she didn’t want me to. I went into the bedroom to pack. Then the phone rang in here. It all sounded pretty urgent. After she rang off, she was suddenly rather keen that I should go to Oxford after all. So I packed my kit into the car, drove off, parked two streets away and came back.
Questions? Contact Marcia Peters at mpeters@westmorelandplayers.org